Insight of the Week: Key Takeaways on the Take-Away Market

Consumer interest in take-away food has held up well in recent years in the Republic of Ireland, according to Kantar Media’s TGI study of consumer behaviour. In 2012, 42% of adults said they like to eat take-away meals and 13% ate them once a week or more. The equivalent figures today are 46% and 16% respectively. In Great Britain, the proportion of adults eating take-aways once a week or more stands at only 11%.

It is the young of course who are most likely to frequently consume take-aways, with 15-24 year olds 46% more likely than the average adult to eat them once a week or more.

The attitudes of these frequent take-away consumers compared to the average adult reveal a particularly propensity towards a love of drinking, playing video games and a high temptation to spend.

This is a group who do not just enjoy take-aways, but explicitly believe that, whilst they may (cumulatively) be costly, they are better than the alternative, as evidenced by them being 44% more likely to agree with the attitude statement ‘I don’t have time to spend preparing and cooking food’ than the average adult.

The types of media that these frequent take-away consumers are especially likely to consume include cinema, of which they are two-thirds more likely than the average adult to be amongst the heaviest 20% of consumers. Action and adventures and romantic comedies are film types particularly likely to be a favourite amongst this group. Magazines also feature prominently and they are 46% more likely to be amongst the heaviest fifth of consumers of these.